


Scared Off Helga-

by Pumpkinpez



Category: Hey Arnold!
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Post-The Jungle Movie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-07
Updated: 2020-02-07
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:41:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22595695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pumpkinpez/pseuds/Pumpkinpez
Summary: Arnold might need to get better at running after this.
Relationships: Helga Pataki/Arnold Shortman
Comments: 3
Kudos: 95





	Scared Off Helga-

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to dearBunni who encouraged me to write this fic and binged Hey Arnold with me while I was on a nostalgia trip!

It had been a crazy summer. The trip to San Lorenzo, finding his _parents,_ saving the Green-Eyed People. Everything had happened so fast and sometimes it felt like Arnold had no time to just pause and breathe. However; he was finally home and his parents were home and he could _breathe_. And think. About everything that had happened and specifically about someone that had happened.

Helga.

She had been _amazing_ when they were breaking out of the prison La Sombra was keeping them in. The way she took ahold of that stapler in the moment? He could have _swooned_ in that moment if it weren’t for the panicked adrenaline telling him to _hurry, hurry, hurry._ And to think, she had done all of it for him. And giving up her locket to save despite thinking she would face humiliation just by showing it to him-

Wait. The locket. The locket that, now that he was thinking about it, seemed very _very_ familiar.

He rolled over onto his stomach on his bed, propping up on his elbows so he could peer down at his girlfriend ( _GIRLFRIEND!!!)_ who was on the floor, back pressed up against his bed, and currently typing away on her phone, texting Phoebe. “Hey, Helga,” he asked, his eyes catching on the golden chain around her neck. “Can I see your locket?”

Her ears instantly flamed red and Arnold couldn’t help but feel a little giddy at the effect he now knew he had on her.

“Why in the world would you want to do that, _Arnoldo?”_ She spat out the nickname but buried her head deeper in her phone.

“Just ‘cause,” he answered, reaching out to fiddle with the gold chain before leaning a little closer to Helga. “Can I?”

She huffed, finally lifting her head. “Fine, do whatever you want,” she snapped and took the locket from around her neck, tossing it behind her and managing to hit him square in the face. Well, she always did have good aim…

He grinned cheekily at her, “Thanks,” he instantly started turning it over in his hand, rubbing his thumb along the edges. It really was the same one from that time, no question about it. There were even nicks in it from when he and Grandpa tried to pry it open. “Ya know,” he started, almost cautiously. “Grandma once got Grandpa a locket just like this with my picture in it for their anniversary…” he trailed off, watching as Helga’s shoulders stiffened.

“Ya, what about it?” she groused, “These things are like, a buck fifty at the dollar store-“

“Sure, sure,” He nodded. “But this one went missing. See, I thought it was a better idea for Grandpa to have a picture of Grandma in there, but we just couldn’t get it open. I mean, don’t get me wrong, we finally did and even saw an engraving inside, but the lights went out and the locket went missing before we got the chance to read it,” he moved his thumb along the edge, to the top of the locket and tried to open it. “Oh, would you look at that, this one won’t open either, what are the odds!”

He finally looked back at Helga, her knuckles so white from gripping her phone Arnold was sure if she squeezed just a little more, she’d end up cracking it. “Hey, Helga, would you open this for me?” he asked, holding the locket back out for her.

She turned, then, giving him a wide, twitching grin, making Arnold startle a little. “Oh, sure!” she agreed, snatching the locket from him. “See, there’s a trick to it, all you have to do is-“ she stood up and then and Arnold’s stomach sank as she turned on her heel and completely bolted out of his room.

“What-“ he shook his head, trying to get his bearings before grinning and jumping off of his bed, chasing after her.

One of the things about Helga was that she was _athletic,_ which also translated into the fact that she was very fast, and she was already turning a corner by the time he made it down the stairs that led up to his room. “Helga!” he called. “I just have a question!”

“You’ll never catch me alive, _football head!”_ she called back, racing down another set of stairs and nearly plowing into Mr. Hyunh and startling him enough for him to fall back against the wall.

“Helga, wait!” He called again and took just a split moment to apologize to Mr. Hyunh before following Helga right out of the door to the boarding house. Arnold mentally groaned, he hadn’t meant to scare her into running. He was just genuinely curious about the locket. After all, she had to have been the one who stole it back, right? Since she still had it? How’d she even manage that?

The chase went on for a few more blocks before he noticed she had changed direction and started towards to the park. Probably thought she could shake him that way, but it was for all the better because he _knew_ Gerald was at said park at that very moment since he was on a date with Pheobe.

He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and quickly went to his contacts, found Gerald, and pressed call. Thankfully, it only took a few rings before he picked up. “Hey, man, what’s up? You know I’m-“

“Gerald!” Arnold was quick to cut him off, his breath coming out in pants as he struggled to speak in his run.

“Woah, man, you okay? You sound like you just ran a marathon.”

“That’s because I feel like I’m _running_ a marathon! Look, Helga’s headed your way, I need you to stall her so I can catch up, _please!”_

Gerald laughed, “What? Why is Helga running from you?”

“I scared her off.”

“Scared off _Helg-”_ There was murmuring, clearly from Pheoebe and Gerald paused. “Oh, okay. Yeah, man, I got you. I see her coming, _wow_ she’s going fast. I’ll see what I can do-“

There was a click and Arnold finally entered the park, almost instantly spotting Helga’s pink bow and then two figures, Gerald and Phoebe, managing to block her way and stop her right in her tracks. He silently thanked his friend as he was able to actually get close enough to hear Helga.

“I don’t have time for this Hair Boy!” she snapped and frantically looked behind her and Arnold managed to catch her eyes, which grew wide and she genuinely looked freaked out and slammed right past Gerald to take off into a run again.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Arnold grumbled under his breath and used every last bit of energy he had to pick up his pace and catch up to Helga. Once she was finally in reachable distance, he did just that, reached out and grabbed her by her waist, dragging her to the ground.

He landed with his back against a tree and Helga all but in his lap. He breathed a sigh of relief, excited to finally be able to catch his breath once more, now if Helga would just stop trying to squirm away-

“Helga,” He spoke, his voice still shaky as he tried to suck in air. He leaned down and pressed his forehead against her shoulder. “Nothing you can possibly tell me is going to make me freak out and break up with you, I _promise._ ” That seemed to get her to finally settle down and stop trying to get away.

“Promise?” She asked, almost feebly and this was another thing Arnold sometimes had a hard time wrapping his mind around. Just how insecure Helga could be, thanks to the way her family and classmates would treat her. She put on such a hard exterior, like nothing could hurt her, but…

“Promise,” He affirmed, his voice now as even as he could possibly make it.

He could feel the way she took in a deep, shaky breath and he lifted his forehead off of her shoulder, instead resting his chin there so he could look over it and down at her hands, ones clenched closely to her chest and around the locket, ones that she was slowly pulling away to reveal the locket. She used one hand to press the switch to open the locket and the other to dig a nail into the edge where to the two sides met and pried it apart.

His breath caught when he caught sight of the inscription inside. _Arnold, my soul. You are always in my heart. Love, Helga G. Pataki._

“Oh, Helga,” he breathed. “There’s no way this would make me freak out,” he buried his head back into her shoulder, a warm feeling settling in his stomach. Yes, her feelings were strong, and maybe it was a little scary to think about, but it made him feel _happy_.

“Oh yeah,” he finally lifted his head again, “I was wondering, how did you manage to get the locket back?” he asked. “Cause one minute it was on the table, the lights went out, and then suddenly it wasn’t.”

Helga’s ears tinted red and she learned forward, burying her head in her knees, mumbling something that he couldn’t quite make out.

“What was that?”

“I _said_ I broke into your house and hid in your rug to get it back!” she snapped. “Criminey, football head, are you _deaf_?”

Arnold pulled back a little in shock. She broke into his house just to get the locket back so he wouldn’t know her feelings? That was- he started laughing- that was funny and somewhat _cute_ , besides the breaking and entering part. He couldn’t help but wonder if she ever did anything like that aga-

“Wait, what about that time you fell out of my couch?” he asked suddenly, remembering a dust covered Helga just slowly back out of his room without a word.

“No!” She screeched and started struggling again. “We are absolutely, not _ever_ talking about that! Do you hear me?” she demanded and Arnold just laughed harder and tightened his grip around her waist.


End file.
